1D Consolidation of Soil at Sumari Uttarakhand Considering Variable Compressibility

The linear and elastic consolidation theory developed by Terzaghi is commonly used for evaluation of consolidation characteristics of fine-grained soils. As several simplifying assumptions have been made in the derivation of Terzaghi’s theory, the application of this theory in many practical problems, especially those involving soft clays, may lead to significant errors. In particular, the assumption of constant value for coefficient of consolidation, 𝐶𝐶𝑣𝑣, during consolidation process is one of the major limitations in Terzaghi’s theory. In this paper, soil sample from the village Sumari near Srinagar Garhwal, Uttarakhand where the permanent campus of NIT Uttarakhand will be constructed has been considered. Finite difference approach is utilized for solving one-dimensional non-linear partial differential equation. Two coefficients {𝐶𝐶𝑛𝑛 and 𝛼𝛼) are computed to describe changes in soil characteristics and incorporate the changes in 𝐶𝐶𝑣𝑣 during consolidation. In order to understand the consolidation behaviour considering variable compressibility a simple problem has been considered. It has been observed that the degree of consolidation is over-estimated on consideration of constant coefficient of consolidation 𝐶𝐶𝑣𝑣 and thus may have a substantial impact on the long-term behaviour of the structure resting over ground exhibiting such behaviour.